The battles with the Santa Fe over Raton Pass and the
Royal Gorge are legendary. They set the course of the Rio
Grande west toward Salt Lake City instead of south through
Albuquerque to Mexico. The original narrow gauge mainline
between Denver and Ogden via Tennessee Pass was completed in
1883. It was converted to standard gauge in 1890.

The railroad added a second track in sections from Minturn up to Dean
between 1903 to 1910. In 1928 automatic block signals were installed from Salida to
Minturn.
Also the D&RGW installed CTC between Deen (end of double track about 2 miles south of Pando) and
Tennessee Pass (6.8 miles). It had a long siding (2.6 miles) in the middle at Mitchell. The CTC machine was in the
station at Tennessee Pass next to the number 1 passing track. The wye for turning helpers was 2 tenths of a mile south
of the station on the number 1 passing track. The track runs roughly north south between Minturn and Salida. A
southbound train is moving railroad east. Both the number 1 passing track (on the east side of the main) and the
number 2 passing track (on the west side of the main) had a capacity of 100 cars. There are two power switches at the
south end of Tennessee Pass. There were spring switches at the north end of Tennessee Pass, both ends of Mitchell
(aligned for right hand running) and the end of double track at Deen. At the time, the line had four to six passenger
and three to ten freight trains per day plus returning helpers. Eastbound passenger trains used one helper engine on
the point and freight trains used two helper engines toward the rear. Maximum eastbound tonnage was usually 2,800 tons
and westward 3,000 tons. During October 1928 total tonnage eastward was 481,000 and westward 313,000. The main
difference was the amount of coal moving east. Block signals were installed from
Canyon City to Salida in 1929 with additional segments in the 30s near Pueblo completed in 1936. The last segment was
10 GRS color light signals between Florence and Canon City on 7 miles of double track.

CTC was installed from Dotsero to Gypsum in 1946. This helped the blending of
westbound trains coming from Minturn. An extensive project in 1958 removed some
of the double track between Minturn and Pando and began adding CTC from Gypsum
to Kobe. Avon to Gypsum was completed in 1959. The territory was controlled from
Grand Junction. CTC between Kobe and Salida was completed in 1961.

For this series we will follow Denver & Rio Grande Western trackage in Colorado from Minturn, over Tennessee Pass and down to the Royal Gorge.

All pictures in this series are on disks 37. You can purchase a disk and printout any of the pictures for your own use to dress up your train room or add color to a house that just cries out for more train pictures.